


Don't Be Awful to Him

by DarkBlueSocks



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-23
Packaged: 2018-12-19 00:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11885862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkBlueSocks/pseuds/DarkBlueSocks
Summary: Forced into attending one of Tony's parties, you spend the night trying to avoid the man of your dreams; Steve Rogers. Why? Well, you have the rather nasty habit of being rather awful to him whenever he attempts to speak to you.





	Don't Be Awful to Him

_Don’t be awful to him. Don’t be awful to him._

Your mind was filled with that lone chant as you clung to the sidelines of Tony’s fancy party. You were a lab girl. This wasn’t your scene. You needed people to be at least one and a half metres away from you at all times, preferably more. The squash that a party offered was kind of your idea of hell.

Aside from the fact that you really disliked parties, there was another clear reason that you had desperately wanted to avoid one of Tony’s shindigs with the Avengers in town.

That reason? A certain Captain America.

Steve Rogers. Since the first moment you had laid your eyes on the beyond gorgeous, blonde, blue-eyed super soldier you had fallen madly in love with him. He was just  _ridiculously_ perfect; with his hair and his face and his freaking arms… You could only think happy thoughts at the sight of him. Your mind filled with daffodils, the skies became blue, merry bells rung in your ears and a smile threatened to overtake your usually cool demeanour. Mentally you became the biggest gooiest idiot. Mentally.

That being said, you were 99% sure your last words to him had been ‘go to hell’. Because he had informed you it was a pleasant morning.

Even considering you were far from a morning person, it had been more than a little hostile. And that was just one of the many, less than charming things you seemed to say to him on an almost regular basis. So you tried your utmost to simply avoid him, and thankfully he was busy saving the world 80% of the time anyway.

But  _a party_  was just one of those rare, unfortunate moments where the possibility of running into Steve was high. If you ran into him, you knew you’d be a jerk.

If there was one thing Steve hated; it was a bully.

Hence the chant. A little reminder to not be awful.

Luckily Steve, unlike you, was in the heart of the action that was the party. He stood with Sam and Clint, laughing and moving his arms. Possibly gesturing at something in the distance. Or just talking with his hands. You couldn’t really tell from this distance. He looked good though…. He always looked good.

             “So you decided to come after all?”

Bruce had chosen this moment to make his presence at your side noticed and in turn save you from being caught staring at Steve Rogers. He was holding two cocktails.

              “I didn’t think I really had a choice.” You answered. “But I see you decided to come.”

              “I don’t think I really had a choice either.”

You smiled at one another in a sort of mutual Tony-is-making-us-suffer sort of way and slipped into a comfortable silence.

              “Got you a beverage.”

You tore your eyes from glancing inconspicuously in Steve’s direction every five seconds to see Banner offering you the drink. And for the briefest of moments, as you were accepting the cocktail from Bruce, it felt as though you were both a part of the party rather than just observing it. You were accepting a drink from a reasonably attractive party goer. You were wearing a pretty dress. Loud, repetitive music was echoing in your ears almost drowned out by a hundred different conversations.

And then it was over.

Natasha noticed Bruce’s late arrival and loitering presence near the door. She quickly came to retrieve him, drawing him into the fray with a rushed goodbye to you.

And again, you were the sad and alone party goer scanning the crowd for Steve Rogers. Like a zoo patron observing rare and spectacular animals.  

Except he was nowhere to be found. You tried not to pout at this discovery. It was really for the best. This way you couldn’t be awful to him, and there wasn’t the risk of him realizing you had been staring at him all night.

Maybe you should just leave now?

              “Evening.”

You spun around with deer-in-headlights eyes to face the super soldier who was suddenly at your side. He was smiling and looking like a god damn model. You wanted to touch his face. Or slap him.

              “Steve.” You greeted. There was more than a little bit of frost in your tone and a gritting of teeth that did not resemble a smile.

_Don’t be awful to him._

If Steve had noticed the frosty greeting he didn’t comment on it. He just continued to smile at you, giving a vague nod in the direction of your untouched cocktail.

              “Saw you talking to Banner earlier.”

_Don’t be awful to him._

              “Observant, aren’t you?” that was maybe only a little awful. Or it would have been had you not dropped eye contact, rolled your eyes, and turned away from him. Why were you this person? You quietly chugged your drink and hoped that the added rush of alcohol would allow you to finally listen to the chant that was going in your head.

              “You got a thing for him?”

              “What?”

The vain part of your mind wanted to instantly accept that Steve was asking because Steve was madly in love with you and furious with jealousy. But every other part of your brain could see this was rubbish. But the alternative was so much worse; in an attempt to save whatever chances of conversation there was, Steve had moved from polite small talk to attempting to ask about your love life.

No one wants to talk about their love life with the love of their life! No one!

None of this inner turmoil was revealed on your face. “Do I have a thing for a man that could snap me in half?” you asked cockily as though it was an absolute  _joke_ that you would like Bruce.

Now you were being awful to  _Banner_? Maybe you were just a dick and this had nothing to do with Captain America being hot? You made a mental note to do something nice for Bruce to deal with your inner guilt.

              “A lot of things can rip you in half.” Steve said in an oddly playful tone.

Was he… referring to himself? Was this… sick flirting? You’d really take any flirting if it was coming from Steve. But you weren’t really sure how you were meant to interpret that.

              “I didn’t mean that to sound like it sounded...”

              “That you can rip me in half?” you muffled a giggle but couldn’t hide the smile. “I don’t think there’s ever a good way to bring that up. At least it’s out in the open now?”

              “Wow.”

Your smile disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. Abort. He was making fun of you. The one time you aren’t mean to him and he jumps on the train to mock you back.

              “What?” you asked, defensiveness quickly turn to hostility as you took a step back from him. You hadn’t even noticed that the space had been closing between the both of you, when did that happen? He was way closer than a metre even!

Steve made a startled noise in the back of his throat and quickly stepped towards you again, causing you to take several steps back and into a wall. He stopped approaching you then, holding up his hands as though to prove he had no intention of ripping you in half. This was probably the most embarrassing interaction the two of you had ever had, but also the longest so far.

              “no,” Steve smiled softly and chuckled in an awkward manner that sounded unnatural when it came from such a perfect face. How could someone that looks like that have any right to feel awkward ever? “It’s just…that was the first time I’d ever seen you smile… it was pretty wow.”

No one had ever complimented your smile before.

He took a small step closer to you, and even if you could move you probably wouldn’t have.

              “Parties don’t really seem to be your scene. Maybe we could go watch a movie or something instead?”

 _What?_  In all the infinite numbers of possibilities that would result from you talking to Steve at Tony’s party, not a single one of them had resulted in Steve kind of, sort of asking you out. If he had been anyone else, you would have assumed it was a cruel trick. But he was Captain America; the sweetest soul in existence.

Even more guilt washed over you like a wave.

              “Why are you being so nice to me?” you couldn’t face him, choosing instead to stare at the edges of one of Tony’s fancy rugs that were probably worth more than your car. “I’m just…so awful to you.”

              “You are?” the smile had never left his face. For Steve, it was a permanent fixture whenever he was around you. “I always thought you seemed kind of nice.”


End file.
